The Endocrine Disrupting Effect of Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) on Human Estrogen, Androgen and Thyroid Receptors

The health effects of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) on humans remain controversial because of contradictory experimental and epidemiological studies. In this study, we used three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) method by applying Surflex-dock to study the binding modes between PFOA and human estrogen receptor (hERα), human androgen receptor (hAR) and human thyroid receptor (hTRβ), and compare the action with four kinds of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Molecular docking studies indicated that PFOA had high affinity potency toward hERα, hAR and hTRβ due to low binding free energies, while the highest value obtained toward hTRβ. This meant the PFOA might represent more disrupting effects on thyroid than on estrogen and androgen. Our results would provide an important reference and direction for the interaction mode and mechanism study between PFOA and human endocrine systems.